Hi Jake

Two points.

First, it'll be even more exciting if the LHC spots signs of super-symmetry and/or Large Extra-Dimensions. If it makes black holes then we're living on a Brane, or something similar, in a much vaster "hyperspace".

Second, the Luddites are worried about the "black-hole factory" tag given the LHC in the quest for LEDs, and the possibility of it making "strangelets" etc. and converting Earth into a chunk of quarkonium. The Precautionary Principle gone mad, worrying about absurdly unlikely scenarios, since the mini-BHs will all explode in micro-seconds thanks to Hawking radiation, and the proven fantastically unlikely odds of creating a strangelet which cosmic-rays haven't managed to do in 4.5 billion years of colliding with Earth's upper atmosphere.

We live in the collision path of a bigger particle accelerator than anything we're ever likely to make (on Earth) and we all get a dose of muons continuously with few ill effects. So why worry about what little ol' humans can do?

Adam

PS If we can make charged and stable super-symmetric particles then they could be used as fusion catalysts, just like the old muon reactors. I've read that stauons could be made and used, depending on the specifics of the super-symmetry. Now that'd be really cool. Perhaps "cold fusion" could become a reality!